Boeing & SpaceX selected for future NASA Crew Transport

September 16, 2014

NASA made a long-awaited announcement on Tuesday, confirming SpaceX and Boeing as the companies to advance under NASA's Commercial Crew Program to develop, build and operate human-rated spacecraft to fly American Astronauts to space. This decision eliminates Sierra Nevada from the running in NASA's Commercial Crew Transportation Capability program, however NASA announced earlier that the agency desires to continue in a close cooperation with the company not taken forward in CCtCap. The first mission of a NASA crew aboard a commercial vehicle was originally expected in 2017, however, due to funding uncertainties, that date has since been drifting to the right and currently stands at December 2017.

A gap between the Space Shuttle Program and the availability of America's future crew vehicles was unavoidable given the recent funding situation. Unfortunately, this gap has continued to grow since America last flew a crew to and from space in 2011 when Space Shuttle Atlantis made the final flight of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program.

Image: NASA

Image: NASA

Along with NASA's ambitious plans to return to Beyond Earth Orbit exploration missions in the next decade with SLS and Orion, the agency is also spreading its funding on a number of other programs including planetary and solar system exploration and Earth observations. It was known that no rapid recovery of domestic crew transportation could be expected when NASA turned to commercial companies, however the option of encouraging private firms to invest some of their own money plus funding from NASA proved to be an option to accelerate the development process while also taking pressure off NASA's own budget.

To bridge the gap, NASA has purchased seats aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to continue flying Astronauts to and from the International Space Station for $70 million per seat. Astronauts are currently booked for Soyuz flights into mid-2017.

Image: NASA

Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada had started as participants in NASA's Commercial Crew Development Program back in 2010, being awarded funding to begin the study of potential concepts for human spaceflight technologies. A number of other companies also participated in the initial phases of the program including Blue Origin, Excalibur Almaz, Paragon Space Development Corporation and United Launch Alliance that was tasked with working out plans to certify the Atlas V rocket for human spaceflight missions.

The next stage of the program, known as CCDev2, included specific milestones that companies had to meet in order to receive funding from NASA. In 2012, NASA initiated the Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative with three remaining competitors, SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada - Blue Origin had not submitted a proposal for CCiCap, however its collaboration with NASA continues on a non-funded basis through the exchange of knowledge.

All three companies met their milestones on the pre-determined timeline to get into a posture for a first flight test of their respective vehicles in 2016.

Over the course of the first three phases of the Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX received $545 million in NASA funding, Sierra Nevada was awarded $362 million and Boeing received $621 million to develop and test their spacecraft designs.

SpaceX has revealed its crewed Dragon spacecraft in May of this year. In part based on the cargo-carrying Dragon spacecraft that has been flying reliably since 2010, Dragon V2 includes a number of innovative new systems to be able to transport crews to and from orbit.

The reusable Dragon V2 is capable of carrying seven Astronauts and deliver them to ISS via a fully automatic docking and return them to Earth using a propulsive landing supplied by eight SuperDraco engines installed on the craft to achieve a landing accuracy comparable to that of a helicopter. Dragon V2 will use SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

Boeing has also made progress with its CST-100 (Commercial Space Transport 100). Using a capsule design, CST-100 can support a crew of seven and the spacecraft is also planned to be re-used, featuring a landing system supported by parachutes and airbags. For CST-100 processing operations, Boeing has taken over Orbiter Processing Facility 3 at the Kennedy Space Center under the Multi-User Spaceport Concept. CST-100 is compatible with different launch vehicles, but will use Atlas V for its initial missions.

Sierra Nevada is developing its Dream Chaser crew vehicle, that unlike the other two spacecraft, will land on a runway - resembling a miniature Space Shuttle Orbiter. The major advantages of this design are a high-flexibility in terms of mission design, cross-track capability and low re-entry stress. Also using Atlas V as its launch vehicle of choice, Dream Chaser could fly autonomously or controlled by a crew of up to seven astronauts. The craft made its first free flight test last year and has booked an Atlas V for its maiden launch in November 2016.

All three companies met their CCiCap milestones as planned including a number of Critical Design and Operations Reviews supervised by NASA as well as a number of tests at the component and integrated hardware levels. Due to limited funding, NASA was required to downselect to two Commercial Crew Providers to continue to receive funding while all three would still be provided assistance by NASA after the downselect.

Photo: SpaceX/NASA

Dragon V2

Image: Boeing

Boeing's CST-100

Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser

Photo: Sierra Nevada

Photo: NASA

In a press briefing held at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, NASA announced Boeing and SpaceX as the winners of the CCtCap awards, putting an end to weeks of speculation. According to the awards presented on Tuesday, Boeing and SpaceX receive shares of a total CCtCap contract value of $6.8 billion through 2017 for the continued development plus one crewed test flight and two to six operational flights to ISS. SpaceX will receive $2.6 billion while Boeing receives $4.2 billion.

Tuesday's announcement in favor of two capsule designs, dropping the multi-capable Dream Chaser, has been a surprise to some. However, Sierra Nevada has already identified additional roles for their Dream Chaser spacecraft outside of ISS flights.

Image: Boeing

Photo: SpaceX/NASA

A look inside the future Dragon Spacecraft

SNC has secured a partnership with the European Space Agency for an exchange of knowledge that may lead to future improvements in the design of Dream Chaser. However, SNC has confirmed that the company will be looking at selection documentation before making any decision on how to proceed with the Dream Chaser Program.

With selections now made, Boeing and SpaceX will continue developing their spacecraft at full speed working toward flight testing in 2016.

For SpaceX, two crucial tests are on the calendar in the next six months starting with a pad abort test in late 2014 followed by an in-flight abort test in early 2015 to demonstrate the SuperDraco's ability to move the craft to safety in the event of a launch vehicle failure. SpaceX is also advancing with respect to reusability of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle having demonstrated the landing regime of first stages with the F9R Dev1 vehicle and actual first stages returning to the ocean as part of a soft splashdown landing.

Boeing has chosen a path not showing much of its flight hardware in advance. The company has received the majority of funding in NASA's Commercial Crew Program and met all milestones on the time scale that was chosen by NASA.

A number of critical tests were conducted by Boeing including launch abort engine tests, parachute and landing airbag tests, and a number of software related testing activities including a pilot-in-the-loop demonstration. Boeing also worked with United Launch Alliance to develop an Emergency Detection System for Atlas V and fabricate a launch vehicle adapter for the CST-100 spacecraft.

The two companies that were selected to continue in the Commercial Crew Program will complete unmanned test flights of their respective spacecraft ahead of a manned test flight before NASA will allow the craft to carry Astronauts.

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